Building construction.



No. 778,926.: PATENTED JAN. s, 1905. A. WARREN. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 25, 1904.

NTTED STATEs` atented January 3, 1905.

ALEXANDER C. WARREN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BUILDlNe. CoNsTRUoTioN.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 778,926, dated January 3, 1905. Application filed April 25, 1904. Serial No. 204,824.

To all whom, it may concern.'

Be itknown that I, ALEXANDER CWARREN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Building Construction, of which the following is a f ull, clear, concise, and eXact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to floor structures, and is particularly useful for buildings of fireproof construction, wherein the supporting-frame includes vertically and horizontally disposed supportingmembers, usually of steel, which sometimes cooperate with supporting-walls, said supporting members being spaced apart and adapted to sustain intermediate block-and- `beam floor elements, which span the spaceintervening the supporting members and are anchored thereto. In structures of this nature wherein the horizontally-disposed members include tie-beams and supporting-girders angularly disposed with respect to the tiebeams intermediate concrete beams supported by said girders (and sometimes by the walls also) are utilized as a means of support for distinct block elements. In my invention said blocks are held at either end by said intermediate concrete beams.

My invention has to do more especially with the manner of anchoring said blocks to the intermediate beams and includes distinct blocks having interlocking engagement with concrete supporting beams. In the preferred embodiment said blocks also have interlocking engagement with each other.

'Heretofore to avoid all obstructive jogs on the Hoor side of the structure and generally to avoid uneven surfaces on the ceiling side the said floors have been made of a thickness substantially equal to the depth of the largest s upporting-girder. This practice has hitherto necessitated the use of large quantities of material of much weight to obtain the required depth, but not required to obtain the required strength of said iioor structure. Thus the weights of previous iioor structures have been greater than necessary, because of the lack of practical means for anchoring the blocks to the intermediate concrete beams. struction widely adopted the intermediate concrete beams are connected by a continuous wall or support on which tile blocks are seated, the function of said horizontal support being solely to sustain the tile-blocks. Con.- structions on another linehave required blocks substantially equal in depth with respect to the supporting-girders and concrete beams, reliance being placed upon the frictional or adhesive engagement of the blocks and beams rectangular in cross-section to effect the support of the former, said blocks being placed between the beams and being of equal depth therewith. This construction and others of like nature, while lessening the weight of the floor structure, do not provide adequate anchorage for the blocks. In case a partition or floor-Stringer were located upon the said blocks the latter would be forced out of position. These defects are avoided by means of my invention, which not only permits the use of hollow blocks equal in depth to the intermediate beams and supporting girders, thereby greatly lessening the weight of the floor structure, but provides a firm anchorage for said blocks, thereby not only securing the required strength, but greatly cheapening the construction of this portion of the building. The means for interlocking said blocks and beams is in the preferred embodiment supplemented by means whereby said blocks may be interlocked with each other, thus providing a compound interlocking means effecting anchorage Vof the blocks in transverse planes. In iiller or beam blocks of this type wherein the same abut in the formation of the oor structure a great saving of material is eifected by constructing the said blocks hollow with one of the abutting sides open or without a connecting-wall. By this my improved means a closed formation of the blocks is effected by permitting the closed side of one block to be placed adjacent to the open side of another block, the closed wall serving as a partition between said blocks.

I will now describe my invention more particularly with respect to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a floor plan of a portion em- In one con- I IOO bodying the main features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2 2 of Fig. 1'. Fig'. 3 is a sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the blocks.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughout the different fig- .rilateral or other forms of inclosures that are not perfect squares. Said fioor structure is shown in elevation including -broken -away portions of adjoining sections extending in varying directions. The supporting members 2 are desirably in the form of I-beam girders, to which the floor structure A is secured, although in buildings wherein the outer walls form a iioor-support one girder only in the immediate neighborhood of said wall may act as a support. The space intervening the girders 3 and 2 is desirably divided into Vfour sections, as shown, by horizontally-disposed concrete steel beams 5, which extend from one girder 2 to the other, desirably in parallel relation with the tie-beams 3. The laterallyextending ianges of said girders 2 and (desirably also) beams 3 are utilized as a support for a base 6, of which the ends of the concrete beams 5 preferably form a substantially integral part, concrete being placed between the end blocks and the girders to fill this part of the space between the concrete beams. lt will thus be seen that said blocks 4 are not (as is preferable) in contact with the steel supporting members at any point, but are held in concrete by all of their support-engaging faces. Concrete ties 7, transversely disposed with respect to the girders 2, act to transmit the strain concentrated upon one of the beams 5 to the nearest or adjoining beams, the said ties 7, adjacent to the boundaries of the floor structure, being joined with the base 6. Said beam-blocks 4 are desirably hollow and, of polyhedralformation,having, preferably, side and end engaging surfaces. One of said sideengaging surfaces of each block is desirably unprovided with an inclosing wall, while the opposite and parallel engaging surface is desirably provided with an integrally-formed closed wall, which serves as a partition between the blocks when the open side of one block abuts the closed engaging surface or wall o f an adjacent block, as shown in Fig. 2.

The top wall 8 of each of said blocks 4 desirably overhangs the open side of said blocks, forming a horizontally disposed liange 9, which constitutes one member of an interlocking device whereby the top walls of said blocks may be engaged with each other to effect further interlocking action upon the blocks. The cooperating member of said interlocking device desirably includes a recess 10, formed upon each block on the closed side thereof. Said recess 10 is of suflicient depth to receive the projecting ange 9 and permit the walls of the open side of one block to uniformly engage the closed side of an adjacent block. Another important advantage of the construction wherein the top wall 8 of each block is interlocked with the adjacent blocks consists in the twofold service which the said closed walls are causedto performnamely, acting as a partition for the blocks and a support for the walls 8, the latter on the open side of each block being unsupported between its ends.

The end walls 11 of said blocks are desirably inclined outwardly from their junctures with the bottom walls 12 to provide a wedge construction of the block for engagement with a complemental formation or cavity in the beams 5, thereby effecting a support for said blocks capable of efectually preventing displacement thereof by superposed loads. Said end walls 11 are desirably not equal in length to the height of said blocks, and therefore are not shown joined directly to the upper walls 8, but are preferably connected therewith by walls 13, which are also shown inclined outwardly from their juncture with the walls 8. Said walls'll and 13 form downwardly and upwardly facing engaging surfaces, respectively, the wall 13 engaging a correspondingly-inclined surface formed in the beams 5.

1t will be seen that great advantages are,

gained by the construction of the end walls of said blocks 4, as shown. The lower or downwardly-facing portion 11 of said end walls engages the beams by a wedge action of suflicient area to support said block, leaving an upwardly-facing portion or wall13, which permits of the increased cross-section of said beams 5 near the top thereof to enable them to withstand compression strains directly imposed. A further interlocking engagement of the blocks 4 and saidv concrete beams is effected, wherein the blocks are as capable of sustaining directly the weight of a floor-Stringer or a tile partition as are the beams, which advantage permits the location of said stringers or partitions upon the Hoor structure irrespective of the beams, a matter of great practical importance not only in first construction, but in subsequent alterations of buildings.

Inasmuch as plaster cannot readily be applied to the beams 5 because of the even surface thereof, the lower surfaces of the walls 12 are desirably and preferably roughened, and said blocks are provided with extensions 14, serving to substantially inclose said beams on the lower sides thereof, to extend this Ioo` IIO

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the lower portion of the beams 5 directly engaged by the end walls 11, reinforcements in the form of shear-rods 17 are provided which are desirably transversely arranged with respect to the rods 15 and 16.

I consider the construction wherein the engaging faces of the beams 5 cooperating with the walls 11 and 12are in planes angular with respect to each other to be the most efficient and advantageous form; butIdo not wish to be limited to this precise form, as I do not consider the diverging walls near the top of the blocks an essential feature to all successful applications of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. A floor-span, including concrete beams and hollow blocks of polyhedral formation having side-engaging surfaces, one side of each block being closed by a wall, the other side thereof being without an inclosng wall and serving to engage the closed side of an depth, substantially as described.

3. A Hoor-span including concrete beams having lateral engaging recesses, and hollow filler-blocks of polyhedral formation having projecting' end walls seated in said recesses, substantially as described.

4. A floor-span including concrete beams provided with engaging recesses, and fillerblocks of polyhedral formation having engaging surfaces seated in said recesses, substantially as described.

5. A floor-span including concrete beams having lateral engaging recesses, and hollow filler-blocks of polyhedral formation having projecting end walls seated in said recesses, said blocks being interlocked with each other and coeXtensive in depth with said beams, substantially as described.

In witness 'whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 23d day of April, A. D. 1904.

ALEXANDER C. IARREN.

I/Vitnesses:

Gr. L. CRAGG, CARL H. CRAWFORD. 

